In Effort to Avoid Conflicts, McCain Issues New Rules for Staff

WASHINGTON — After expelling four advisers in the last week over concerns about their outside entanglements, Senator John McCain said Friday that his presidential campaign was beginning a new “vetting process” intended to end the embarrassments over staff ties to private interests, foreign governments or independent political groups.

A campaign spokeswoman said it was too soon to say how many campaign officials might be removed under the new rules, which were distributed to campaign staff members Thursday night with a questionnaire to ferret out potential conflicts.

“We’re going through the vetting process to make sure that everybody understands,” Mr. McCain said Friday, “and we’ll get those rules into play as quickly as possible.”

The midcampaign staff review underscores the difficulties Mr. McCain is having in trying to build his Republican presidential campaign around his crusades for tighter ethics rules and pledges to avoid even the appearance of conflicts of interest. It is hard for any campaign to find experienced operatives who do not also sell their political connections, expertise or influence to private interests. And Mr. McCain’s emphasis on strict ethics has drawn special attention to the number of potential conflicts within his own staff.

On Friday, the campaign severed its ties to Craig Shirley, a veteran public relations consultant who had helped handle outreach to conservatives. The campaign said it would no longer employ Mr. Shirley because he was also working for StopHerNow.com, an independent political group initially dedicated to attacking Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton that is now refocusing on Senator Barack Obama (and changing its name).

Mr. McCain has criticized such groups — called 527 political organizations — because they operate outside the limits on campaign contributions and any coordination with a campaign can draw legal penalties. Diana Banister, Mr. Shirley’s partner, said their firm stopped working for the McCain campaign by mutual agreement in light of its new policy.

On Thursday, the campaign removed one of its energy policy advisers, Eric Burgeson, because he was also a paid lobbyist for energy companies.

Last weekend, the McCain campaign accepted the resignations of two other lobbyists, Doug Goodyear, previously charged with planning for the Republican convention, and Doug Davenport, a regional campaign director. Both had previously worked for the military junta governing Myanmar, which is now under fire for blocking humanitarian relief to cyclone victims.

“Obviously, I didn’t like it,” Mr. McCain told reporters Friday when asked about the two aides’ ties to Myanmar. “Saw a problem, fixed it.”

Still, eliminating potential conflicts may be complicated. Highlighting the issue, the new policy was disseminated by a former lobbyist: Mr. McCain’s top campaign adviser, Rick Davis, a longtime aide who is on leave from a lobbying firm whose clients included major telecommunications companies with business before a Senate committee that Mr. McCain led. Mr. Davis’s clients included a Russian aluminum magnate and a Ukrainian political party; United States officials suspect both of corruption and ties to antidemocratic groups.

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Another top strategist, Charlie Black, was one of Washington’s best-known Republican lobbyists until he joined the campaign. Mr. Black is on leave from his firm, which has ties to a host of business clients and several foreign governments.

About a sixth of the campaign’s 106 top fund-raisers — dubbed innovators and trailblazers — are lobbyists. Mr. McCain’s fund-raising chairman, Tom Loeffler, founded a lobbying firm that bears his name, and the campaign’s deputy finance chairman, Wayne Berman, is a major Republican lobbyist as well. A McCain campaign official said Friday that Mr. Loeffler was expected to give up his position to comply with the new rules. It was unclear if Mr. Berman would relinquish his role, the official said.

Mr. McCain’s most likely Democratic opponent, Mr. Obama, of Illinois, is another outspoken advocate of tighter ethics rules who has tried to walk a fine line on the subject of lobbyists and influence-seekers. He has pledged to reject contributions from federally registered lobbyists but has accepted money from former lobbyists, partners of lobbyists and business executives who hire lobbyists. His campaign includes lobbyists among its unpaid policy advisers as well as staff members who represent private clients before the government in less direct ways.

Mr. Obama’s top campaign adviser, David Axelrod, is a partner in ASK Public Strategies, a firm that helps companies influence government policy by trying to shape public opinion. Its clients have included AT&T, Cablevision and a unit of the energy company Exelon.

Bill Burton, a spokesman for Mr. Obama, drew a distinction between trying to sway public opinion and directly lobbying federal officials. “Senator McCain has some of the most powerful lobbyists in Washington running his campaign,” Mr. Burton said, “and if given a chance, they would run his White House.”

Jill Hazelbaker, a McCain spokeswoman, called Mr. Obama’s position laughable. “In his world, a lobbyist can’t contribute financially to his campaign,” Ms. Hazelbaker said, “but they can advise him on matters of national security.”

The policy Mr. Davis distributed late Thursday spells out the McCain campaign’s new rules. It bars active federal lobbyists or foreign agents from working full time for the campaign. It requires part-time volunteers to disclose any potential conflicts and excludes any lobbyists from discussions of policies they lobby about. It also forbids lobbyists who may volunteer for the campaign from lobbying Mr. McCain’s Senate office or committee staff. And it excludes anyone who works for independent political groups from working for the campaign. But it does not bar lobbyists from donating or raising money.

In addition, Mr. Davis reminded the staff, Mr. McCain has pledged that if elected he will end the usual revolving door between serving in the White House and lobbying it from outside.

“Anyone serving in a McCain administration must commit not to lobby the administration during his presidency,” Mr. Davis wrote.

Correction: May 24, 2008

An article last Saturday about steps taken by Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign to avoid potential conflicts of interest among his advisers misspelled the surname of a business partner of Craig Shirley, a public relations consultant whose ties to the campaign were severed. She is Diana Banister, not Bannister.

Elisabeth Bumiller contributed reporting from Charleston, W.Va.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A13 of the New York edition with the headline: In Effort to Avoid Conflicts, McCain Issues New Rules for Staff. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe